will.i.am to debut new song from Mars

NASA announces that the artist's new single will be broadcast from the surface of the Red Planet via the Curiosity rover.

Somewhere within the meager 4 GB of memory that serve as the brains behind NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is a new music track by will.i.am.

I kid you not.

At least that's what NASA is saying in a new press release promoting an educational event that includes the premiere of "Reach for the Stars" to be "broadcast from the surface of the Red Planet via the Curiosity rover."

This unusual musical moment, according to the release, is reflective of will.i.am's "passion for science, technology and space exploration." It's also an admittedly cool opportunity to teach students the mission and "the technology behind the song's interplanetary transmission."

That will.i.am is involved with NASA is not surprising. The 37-year-old has long supported an increase in science education in the nation's classrooms. Last year, he personally funded a program on ABChighlighting kids participating in the 20th Annual F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.

"These kids are our Michael Jordans and Kobe Bryants and our team is losing right now," he wrote last year on The Huffington Post. "If we don't acknowledge them and support them, they might not want to play for our American team when they graduate from college. They probably won't create jobs in America with the technology they invent."